Mech Battle: A Casual Guide

Here is a quick guide on Mech Battle!

A normal game that shows all the parts of the User Interface (UI).

Mech Battle is a mobile mech game, first and foremost. While it is not yet as big as the rest of the titles out there, it has a potential to grow big and become one of the better games in the mobile mech landscape.

Many casuals, as well as hardcore players from other mobile mech titles, have been looking into joining this game.

This guide, hopefully, would answer most – if not the theoretical and practical questions that would come up during the game!

Where does it all begin?

Mech Battle is a four-on-four game. There are currently three modes in the game: First, we’ve got old-fashioned Domination, where players have to either destroy everyone or hold beacons and diminish the enemy beacon bar. Secondly, Last Man Standing is basically a free-for-all in every sense of the word. Lastly, Capture the Flag is your basic “bring back the center flag” to your home base, regardless of cost. First to have three flags (on big maps) or five flags (on small maps) wins!

Enemies are indicated by an orange color and friendlies are indicated by a green color. On colorblind support, enemies are red and blue, respectively.

One’s journey starts with a Sentinel – upgrade it and the attached weapons to level 5 – and you’re all set until level 10. TAKE NOTE OF THIS FACT:

YOU ARE MATCHED WITHIN 10 LEVELS OF YOUR CURRENT LEVEL.

Open up slots and get bots and weapons leveled up as soon as you can – since you will be matched within the same level bracket as the rest of the population, there are no penalties for expanding hangars early on.

HELL WILL START BY LEVEL 20. MAKE SURE YOUR ROBOTS AND WEAPONS ARE UPGRADED TO AT LEAST LEVEL 8.

You can get very good robots from the 50 and 150 energy cell trades. Energy cells are like power banks that are dropped by robots (including you) when they die. Take as much as you can and roll them whenever you can – the chances are publicly displayed for everyone to see.

The UI shows the following:

A settings feed on the top left side
A kill feed just below it
A movement pad that can be set to static or floating on the menu
The time, number of robots and the beacon bar at the top middle part
A connection indicator and a pause button for looking at the scoreboard
HP bar to the left of the weapons interface, located at the bottom right part of the game. Ability and camera views to the right of the weapons interface. Weapons can be fired individually using the buttons that correspond to the hardpoint or together using the red button in the middle. INDIVIDUAL FIRE BUTTONS CAN NOW BE EDITED FOR YOUR OWN NEEDS!
Camera views are as follows: third-person, first-person and tactical top-down view.

Robots

The current robots in Mech Battle are as follows:

• Light: Trident (1 medium and 2 light slots and fastest speed of a light bot at level 1 plus Stealth – better described as a cloak, 150,000 lithium), Poseidon (1 medium and 2 light slots, 80,000 lithium) , Polaris (1 medium and 2 light slots, has Jump, 75,000 lithium), Independence (2 heavy slots and 1 medium slot, has Boost, 115,000 lithium)

• Medium: Prometheus (2 medium slots and 1 light slot, has Boost, 500,000 lithium), Inferno (1 light, medium and heavy slot, 500,000 lithium), Sentinel (1 heavy and 2 light slots, has Boost, 500,000 lithium)

• Heavy: Valkyrie (3 heavy slots, has Jump, 1,450,000 lithium), Berserker (1 heavy, 2 medium and 2 light slots, 1,750,000 lithium), Juggernaut (2 medium and 2 light slots, 1,450,000 lithium)

• Premium Light: Zephyr (4 light slots, has Boost and a Target soft lock ability, 1,250 platinum)

• Premium Medium: Chronos (2 heavy slots, has Dodge and fastest speed of a “heavy” bot at level 1, 2,500 platinum), Artemis (3 medium slots, has Jump, 2,500 platinum)

• Premium Heavy: Armageddon (2 medium slots and 1 heavy slots, has Boost and fastest speed of a heavy bot at level 1, 5,000 platinum), Atlas (3 medium and 2 light slots, has two charges of Jump that take a total of 30 seconds to reload – 15 seconds each 5,000 platinum)

Lights are known for their speed and ability to get to the place where you want when you need it. However, due to their low HP, they are vulnerable to focused fire. They are best used as harassers and beacon runners and are best deployed outside of an enemy’s eyes.

Meanwhile, medium mechs are notorious for their utility in the game. They are exactly between a light and heavy; they can move a bit fast, they have good weapons slots, they have surprisingly amazing survivability, they have special abilities that would put the other classes to shame and are actually tact. Still, they are a bit slower than Lights and a bit squishier than Heavies – and in a metagame where damage is boss, Heavies are the ones who can give it out the most.

A heavy bot is basically a tank – it is slow, it has many weapons hardpoints and it can endure a ton of punishment. Thus far, there has been no reason yet for the meta to change…

Have fun using all of them in the game.

Weapons

There are three weapons classes in terms of hardpoint strength: light, medium and heavy. Lights can be placed anywhere and offer the least damage of them all, except for the light laser due to its inherent lock-on ability.

Meanwhile, there are quite a few weapon classes in the game.

Machine guns (MG, MR500, WB2000): Its medium rate of fire rips people beyond 40 meters and even further. Token damage in close quarters.
Cannons/shotguns (Cannon, F300, Decimator): Slow rate of fire, wrecks people below 40 meters and wrecks more at closer ranges. The opposite of the machine gun class.
Blasters (Blasters, Prism, Imperator): Projectile lasers that can bounce off surfaces. Imperator has crazy damage, while Prism and Blaster are being buffed every patch). Blasters cost lithium, while Prism and Imperator cost Platinum.
Miniguns (Minigun, G5000, Dispatcher): High rate of fire, large spread, consistent damage. However, better when used at 40 meters and below, especially against mechs with big hitboxes (basically all of the heavy mechs).
Homing Missile A (Swarm, JJ2000, Justice: the ones with many cells and are called “Sidewinders”/”Swarms”): Deadly initial salvo, can hit you anywhere in the map. Beware of these things in big maps. However, below 25 meters – most of the missiles miss due to the fact that the tracking system only reliably starts at 30 meters.
Homing Missile B (Tomak, Tomak_NGEN [New Generation] and RR8: the ones that have a Javelin-like trajectory. Mostly called “Nukes”): Long reload, high damage, large spread – even larger than unguided rockets. Due to their long reload times, you can relax and hit them hard while they are panicking!
Unguided rockets (Q200, Q3500, Persuader) – Very deadly in closed spaces due to their area of effect. You won’t even notice that you’re dying when you are hit by a full salvo of these things. In open spaces though, simply jump or run hard in order to avoid them – they have a low projectile speed and needs to be “lead” in order to hit the target properly.
Plasma (Plasma Gun, Laser MK2, Bertha) – Basically lasers. Lights lock on pretty much easily, while the medium and heavy ones do not lock. Still, they are preferred by many due to their consistent damage regardless of range.
Shields (Genesis, Genesis MK2, ECHO) – they absorb damage and they have a reload time. This is the actual counter to Homing Missile B in a long-range match; it does block Homing Missile A a bit and they are useful temporary damage blockers for all other weapons.

Abilities

Here is a list:

Boost = Basically, you run faster. Useful for beacon running and avoiding unguided rockets.

Dodge = Basically, it is a dash. Weapons lose lock for a while and the user goes a short distance. Very useful for shaking off enemies as well as to hide and capture beacons.

Jump = It is what it is.

Invisibility = Exclusive for the Trident.

Maps

There are nine maps available in the game at the moment:

Tunnels (which has an inner and outer level. Notorious for placing two beacons outside and three beacons inside, as well as having a large hole in the middle to drop right into point C)

Plant (characterized by walls and a high upper platform, as well as some overlooking spots)

Mountain (one huge mountain with a snow palette and tons of broken concrete walls, rocks and random equipment – presumably from a broken dropship)

Desert (again another huge mountain, but with tons of cover, obstacles and some random hills)

Dome (a dark, short-ranged two-leveled map that is situated in what could be a military staging hangar).

Highlands (a symmetrical map with numerous high vantage and low lying points. Both suitable for long-range battles at the top and blocking missiles at the bottom). In addition, it has equidistant spawn points. Slightly more competitive and viable if not for its extreme size and complexity.

Outpost – another symmetrical map that is open, but at the same time has lots of cover. Emphasis on the center of the map as all spawns are located at the far end. Thus far one of the fairest maps that Djinnworks has created in terms of competitive play.

Recon: A map with walls, cover and a dish on top. Beacons and spawn points are all symmetrically located, thus reducing the impact of random spawns. Also another viable competitive map by Djinnworks.

City: A map with a symmetrical layout/spawn point and asymmetrical beacons, this map follows what seems to be Djinnwork’s policy of trying to make maps that are viable competitively. Teams would do well to have movement discipline in this place!

Range

Basically, it’s related to the viability of the maps above. Play within your range, always watch where the enemy is going and always assume that the enemy also knows the range of your weapons.

Always seek places where you can fire unhindered. The traversing capabilities of hardpoints are limited, so jumping at the top of a high place is recommended from time to time.

In another sense, you can use lasers anywhere.

You can use homing missiles at long ranges – do not let them approach.

Sneak up on your enemy with cannons – or make him/her think that you don’t have those guns and rip the enemy at point-blank range!

Snipe your enemy with machine guns. Remember that at 60 meters and above, the pain from these little buggers is real.

Use your miniguns anywhere, everywhere during the day!

Also use blasters in the same way as you would use miniguns…though you might want your projectiles to bounce around a bit!

Rockets are best used when they hit the enemy or the wall – their splash damage ensures that the pain still reaches your opponent.

Basic Tactics

Squad up if you can. Find human players to play with.
Always focus fire. In this way, you can reduce through the enemy easier.
Find targets of opportunity. Always focus on the most dangerous target.
Keeping a 2-3 or better record when it comes to beacons is vital as it gives you time in order to win by mech destruction. This is most important on maps such as Tunnels and Mountain.
In Last Man Standing, farm up as much as you can. Hit the player when he’s around and take them down by any means possible.

The Current Landscape

There are many clans nowadays. I suggest that when you reach level 11 and have at least level 6 weapons and mechs, go for a clan who will help you grow!
Chronos is the only robot with Dodge.
ALL WEAPONS are viable nowadays.
GET THE ENERGY CELLS THAT MECHS DROP AFTER THE GAME. GET THEM AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. You can change them in the Cell Trade Shop for different goodies like resources, weapons and robots: (NOTE, AS OF AUGUST 2019, it is 10-50-150 in terms of cost.)